Hep C class action hinges on one victim accepting deal

Mark Russell

One of 50 women suing drug-addicted anaesthetist James Latham Peters for infecting them with hepatitis C is blocking settlement of the case, a court has heard.

The woman is refusing to join the class action against Peters, prominent abortion specialist Dr Mark Schulberg who had supervised Peters, and the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Authority, because she is not prepared to accept less money.

Supreme Court Justice David Beach said he was "deeply troubled" as to why the woman believed it was in her interests not to settle along with all the other women in the class action.

Justice Beach said the woman was the only impediment to settlement of the case.

Advertisement

If the woman, who had decided to opt out of the class action, did not agree to re-join the group of victims then the case would have to go to trial.

A trial would be time-consuming and cost tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees which would have to come out of any final settlement figure.

The judge was told the settlement offer now on the table was contingent on the woman re-joining the class action and not trying to go it alone.

Justice Beach adjourned the matter until next Wednesday to give the woman's lawyer time to discuss the situation with her.

Peters, 63, was jailed last year for 14 years with a non-parole period of 10 years, after pleading guilty to 55 counts of negligently causing serious injury to the patients by injecting himself with prefilled syringes of fentanyl - an opioid used in general anaesthesia - in theatre at Croydon Day Surgery. He then administered the remaining drug to the patients as they underwent pregnancy terminations.

The Supreme Court was told the "complete incompetence" of Victoria's Medical Practitioners Board led to Peters infecting the women.

While he was required to undergo regular urine drug screening as part of the board's monitoring conditions after he confessed to having a drug problem, he was never tested for the drug he was addicted to - fentanyl.

Peters had a history of drug abuse as well as convictions for possessing a drug of dependence and falsifying prescriptions when he infected the women with the potentially deadly blood disease between June 2008 and November 2009.

While he had informed the medical board - which was abolished under subsequent legislation - about his addiction to fentanyl and pethidine in 1996, Peters failed to disclose his hepatitis C status. The Health Department, which the court heard would have been aware he was a doctor being monitored for a fentanyl addiction, was told as soon as he tested positive to the disease, but did not pass on the information.

Despite being suspended while he sought help for his addiction, Peters was allowed to return to work under certain monitoring conditions.

Many of his victims have previously told the court of the impact of what they called his "medical negligence", "crime" and "act of violence" against them. Their victim impact statements spoke of broken relationships, ruined careers and their ever-present fears of passing on the disease to their partners, children and others.

Many have developed crippling depression, anxiety and stress since learning they had been exposed to the disease and finding out they had been infected. Several have been placed in psychiatric care and many contemplated suicide as a direct result of Peters' actions.

In May last year, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal cancelled the registration of Dr Schulberg - who had been Peters' supervisor at the Croydon Day Surgery - for one year from July after finding him guilty of serious misconduct.

Between 2000 and 2009, the Croydon-based doctor prescribed multiple patients with more than 25,000 Xanax tablets and 9000 Valium among other addictive drugs.

The tribunal heard Dr Schulberg was the only doctor in Victoria, and potentially Australia, who continued to perform late-term surgical abortions on women between 16 and 24 weeks gestation.